Syracuse, Gluten-free…kinda

This title is semi sarcastic, because last weekend it was rough going scavenging for gluten-free food in Syracuse, NY. Since it was freeeeeeezing, there wasn’t a lot of time to walk around and check out spots for gluten-free friendly places, so I tried to do my research ahead of time. I had Empire Brewing Company on my list – so we headed there our first night out.

They have a gluten free menu, but it honestly wasn’t that impressive. When you see “mixed green salad” as the first menu item, you kind of know that you’re in trouble. They did have Redbridge beer, however, so at least I could kick back with a brewski while we waited for our table. The bartender looked like I was a bit crazy when I ordered it though – so they obviously aren’t a gluten-free “hot spot”, so to speak.

Since the menu was so limited, I really didn’t find anything I really wanted. So, with the help of the waitress, I made up my own entree – tofu tacos! They had tomatillo-braised tofu in another dish, so I asked if they could use it in their tacos and substitute in corn tortillas.

Does that look good? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Sadly, it tasted pretty much like it looked. I would have loved to have the fish tacos, but they fried the tilapia…sigh.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel, which was pretty terrible. Then headed to the Syracuse-Villanova game, which was also pretty terrible.

After the game, we were planning on ordering from Alto Cinco – which has gluten-free burritos. I’ve been craving a burrito for about….three years or so…and I was so excited to get one! However, after the game they said they had a TWO HOUR wait! Blast! We had to abandon Plan A, and move on to the unknown Plan B.

After a little Googling, we found appeThaizing. Thai food is always celiac-friendly, but this place actually had a gluten free menu! (Which was actually just the normal menu that someone had written on with permanent marker, but tomato-tomahto).

By this point I was so hungry I didn’t have time to take a picture. But, I got tofu red curry, extra broccoli.

The next day I was hungry, tired, and ready to eat an actual meal. I had brought a bunch of Larabars with me for the weekend, but I had yet to have a real-deal meal. On the way home we had a few hours to kill before the bus left, so we kicked it high school style and went to the Carousel Center Mall. Where I picked up some an unneeded beauty product, Moroccan Oil.

Then, like a suburban chain-store beam of light, came a Uno Chicago Grill. I’ve known that Uno’s has gluten free pizza for awhile, but generally avoid it because there are so many truly awesome gf pizza places in NYC (Risotteria, Pala) that it seems sinful to go to a chain. But at that moment it was just the right place for me!

I got a Redbridge, in a frosty pint glass! (squeel!) I never get one of those!

Then I ordered a veggie gluten free pizza off of their gf menu.

They also had bananas foster and black bean lentil soup, which sounded good.

The pizza was…..generically delicious. Kind of like microwave pizza, or pizza hot pockets – good, but also terrible.

After three pieces of pizza and a beer, I was ready for a nice long nap on the bus ride home.

I really don’t think that I could spend any more than a weekend in Syracuse, since it seems like most of the restaurants were bread-heavy chains. But for a couple of days, I survived. Thank goodness I went to school in the crunchy city of Ann Arbor 🙂